Through Stained Glass: Epiphany--good news

GOOD  NEWS

                                             Pat Baker

 (Today's Epiphany Word of the Day post comes from our very own, Pat Baker. If you are interested in contributing for the remainder of the Epiphany season, I would very much so appreciate whatever you submit. Photos, poems, words, or whatever! What does Good News mean to you?)

Glorious, generous, guide

Opposition overcome

Omniscient ONE

Deity divine

Nativity narrator

Evocative essayist

Wisdom’s womb

Soul’s sacrificial SAVIOR

Through Stained Glass: Advent--glory, light, & love

Hebrews 1.1-3

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.

Thought:  The fog of fear consumes the imagination of many. Our creativity is the remedy—the spark needed to burn away the hate so we may see Love’s mercy, light, and glory.

When you hear ‘the glory of God’ or ‘give glory to God’ what comes to mind?

How are you reflecting God’s glory—Christ?

John 1:4-5The Message (MSG)

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

Thought:  As much as we celebrate light we need not be afraid of the dark. Darkness is beautiful. Darkness is where dreams are born.

When was the last time you went into the darkness? Did you appreciate the light more when you returned from the dark? Why are we afraid of the dark when it is the light where we are often exposed to the harshness of life?

Poem:

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired

the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb

tonight.

The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.

The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness

to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

 -- David Whyte

     from The House of Belonging

     ©1996 Many Rivers Press

Zephaniah 3.14-17

14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;

   shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

   O daughter Jerusalem!

15 The Holy One has taken away the judgements against you,

   God has turned away your enemies.

The king of Israel, the Holy One, is in your midst;

   you shall fear disaster no more.

16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

Do not fear, O Zion;

   do not let your hands grow weak.

17 The Holy One, your God, is in your midst,

   a warrior who gives victory;

God will rejoice over you with gladness,

   God will renew you in God’s love;

God will exult over you with loud singing…

I love our church. Plain and simple. I love the people. I love the building. I love our awareness for ministry. I love the energy we have for mission. I love the energy we have for our children and youth.

Again I say, I love this church.

Some thoughts on Love:

We are created in the image of God. If God is love our image is Love. Our identity and destiny is love.

Thomas Merton once said, Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.

         What do you think he meant by this?

 Love is our true name. 

I challenge you today let someone know, someone outside of your circle of friends & family, that you love them. Or, better yet, that they God loves them. Show kindness. Show gentleness. Buy the person in line behind you their coffee. Leave $10 at Jimmy John's and tell them the next college kid to walk in, use that $ to buy their lunch. Go visit someone in the prisons. 

Love is the way...

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Essentially

This morning over a cup of coffee I’ve thought a lot about life.

Not necessarily “What is life’s meaning?” but more

What does it mean to live a life of meaning?

I have read a lot of Rilke lately. And Parker Palmer.

Today they spoke to each other:

“Our lives participate in the myth of eternal return:  we circle around and spiral down, never finally answering the questions “Who am I?” and “Whose am I?” but, in the words of Rilke, “living the questions” throughout our lives.”

I like this.

This idea that our lives are like the eternal cycle of the seasons does not deny the struggle or the joy, the loss or the gain, the darkness or the light, but encourages us to embrace it all—and to find in all of it opportunities for growth.

If we are to live our lives fully and well, we must learn to embrace these opportunities, to embrace the opposites of life:  to live in a creative tension between our limits and our potentials.

Essentially, we must honor our limitations in ways that do not distort our true selves, and we must trust and use our gifts in ways that fulfill the potentials God gave us.

Interesting, yea?

Doors open.

Doors close.

Perhaps when a door closes, what we need to do is, rather than pounding on the door in frustration and bitterness, we turn around and begin again. In doing, as Parker Palmer says, we welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls.

The door that closed kept us from entering a room, but what now lies before us is the rest of reality.

Saying ‘yes’ to this reality is where a meaningful life is lived, I think.

Maybe then, where we need to begin, is exactly where we are.

Our lives will gain meaning once we engage life with our whole selves.  We need to embrace this journey toward the discovery of our true selves—the journey towards God.

Remember, we are here not only to transform the world but also to be transformed. We are participants in a vast communion of being, and if we open ourselves to the cycles, rhythms, and seasons of life, we can learn anew how to live in this great and gracious community of love!

Slow down today. Engage a different rhythm. Be at peace in the world. Be at peace with yourself. 

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Sandburg

Water, water, everywhere.

Water under here and over there!

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy remembering my baptism and giving thanks….

But 2 weeks of it in the form of rain is about enough. If I wanted to live in such an environment I'd move to the Bayou! 

It would be one thing if it was a steady rain but these storms, they are a bit much.

Especially for my sweet Chloe who has become an expert in the army crawl. You see, anytime it begins to rain, she takes her position…under the bed. Even if it is at 3 in the morning and I’m sound asleep, on her belly she goes and squirms and squeezes until only the tip of her tail sticks out!

Even now as I sit typing this at By the Bean, someone commented, “How about this weather?” Which was quickly followed up with, “But we shouldn’t complain. We could live in California where water is scarce.”

As we lament the back-to back-to-back days without the sun, we also pray for our brothers and sisters near and far who are enduring a difficult drought. We pray that water will find the dry lands where seeds have been planted and fruit will spring forth. May God pour out Her mercy upon those who’s lips are parched and long to have their thirst quenched.

“Life in us is like the water in a river.” 
― Henry David Thoreau

As for us, as we listen to the rain fall and watch the water gather in puddles, as we groan at the report more rain is on the way, may we take the time to be renewed, refreshed, and cleansed by God’s healing rain. May the opportunities to sit and ponder the showers of the summer lead us to a better understanding of God’s graces poured out upon our lives. May we remember the words from scripture, as a deer longs for living streams, as a weary traveler longs for the waters of life, so our souls long for God. May God pour out God’s Spirit upon all creation so that justice might roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Sure, while rain may dampen our plans, it is also a good thing that leads to life.

It also slows us down. It reminds us of our belovedness. It is an invitation to payer, not only to give thanks and to pray for neighbors.

But also rain gives us time and space to care for our selves. 

Rain is a time to tell stories and sing songs, to reminisce and to play.

What is your favorite rainy day memory? What is something you like to do during stormy days?!

Have a good weekend, everybody. Don’t forget your umbrellas!

I’m including a poem by Carl Sandburg. You can find this poem among others in our library!

What is the name you called me?--

And why did you go so soon?

The crows lift their caws on the wind,

And the wind changed and was lonely.

The warblers cry their sleepy-songs

Across the valley gloaming,

Across the cattle-horns of early stars.

Feathers and people in the crotch of a treetop

Throw an evening waterfall of sleepy-songs.

What is the name you called me?--

And why did you go so soon?

~Evening Waterfall by Carl Sandburg